Home (Small Flat/Appartment) Monitoring

SlushPuppy

New member
Hi everyone,

I used to have a great home studio set-up as I'd converted my parents garage into a home recording studio/rehearsal room. I could play loud, turn up my monitors to 11 and listen back to my musical concoctions without worrying about neighbours at any time of the day or night. And then I met a girl and left home to be an adult : )

This was five years ago and I took all of my gear with me into my new flat. Some of the unusable (larger) gear I sold and some of it still has its purposes. However, my dream of turning the spare bedroom into a recording studio is never going to happen so my mixing and mastering has been limited to headphones up to now.

I have a pair of Fostex PM-1's that I'm seriously thinking of selling. I haven't been able to use them and even if I did, the acoustics of the spare room aren't great and I doubt my neighbours would be pleased. Especially as I'm usually one of the first people to bang on the walls when their kids are being noisy! My flat also isn't huge so trying to fit monitors and stands alongside the laundry is impracticable.

I surely can't be the only person out there who wants to record, mix and master at home, but doesn't have the space or forgiving neighbours? How do you adjust? I know that solely mixing and mastering on headphones isn't ideal. Using crappy desktop-type speakers is also unreliable.

Any suggestions would be great. Are there any monitors out there specific to this purpose i.e. non active/passive - laptop type speaker/monitors. Previously I would use as many different sound sources as possible to test my mixes (the car, crappy laptop speakers, hi-fi, ipod - and lastly my PM-1's) as it enables me to highlight the imbalances that have been previously hidden.

I'm just looking for some insight and stories of how you guys and gals adapt. I look forward to hearing from you

Cheers
 
I just mix mainly at low volumes... then every now and then, crank it up a bit to hear how it sounds when louder, then check on multiple systems, and via the MP3 Clinic here for the thoughts of people with better ears and set ups than mine. You can get a long way without pissing off the neighbours, so I wouldn't be selling monitors and trying to do it all via headphones just yet.

My apartment is probably a bit more sympathetic to musical pursuits than yours by the sound of it. One of the main reasons I bought it was the big "media desk" between the lounge / vocal & acoustic guitar recording space and the spare bedroom / electric guitar recording space.

I have another advantage in that my neighbour-through-the-wall is a lovely old duck for whom I do minor maintenance tasks and who likes hearing me through the walls occasionally. She even bought 4 copies of my last CD.... :laughings:
 
Mixing wiht headphones-only is a total crapshoot. You can continue to do the 'listen to the mixes on every possible system', making changes and trying again for time after time after time and still not be assured you've got a really tranlatable mix. Keep your monitor volumes down when they have to be. Wait for the eighbors to go out before cranking them. Build some 2'x4' bass traps that can be hung up in the corners/walls when you need them, and stashed in the closet when you're not mixing.
Or ... move!
 
If you can listen to music, or for that matter, watch TV at home you can mix.
There's no reason to get rid of good gear and switch to headphones.
Mixing at levels that don't piss off neighbors is better anyway (in my opinion)
Now tracking, that's a different story. Dont think a drummer on the living room would go over well.
 
All the above advice is very good. You should not give up on what they're telling you. However........it sort of seems as if you have a particularly bad situation in your environment as regards your neighbors. For around $79 or less if you search........you may want to give this a try.

Focusrite VRM Box

I have it. Bought it on a whim as just another reference........and have used it from time to time and it does have some value for anyone who can only use headphones to mix on. It'll never replace a great environment along with good monitors and it takes a little getting used to. You will need an excellent pair of open cans.............but you certainly can use it to reveal flaws in your mix. For the price it might be worth a try.
 
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